IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/atlecj/v29y2001i2p203-214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economies of scale and optimal capital in nuclear and fossil fuel electricity production

Author

Listed:
  • Russell Rhine

Abstract

This paper tests for economies of scale in the electric utility industry using a five-year panel data set that includes both fossil fuel and nuclear fuel electricity generation. In addition, a variable cost function is used as opposed to a total cost function because the assumption of cost-minimizing production inputs is not met. That is, electric utilities are overcapitalized. Therefore, the optimal capital stock is estimated, which is significantly less than the actual capital stock, and an estimate of economies of scale is generated. Evidence suggests that firms are operating on the negatively sloped portion of the long-run average cost curve near the trough. This indicates either slight economies of scale or no economies of scale. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2001

Suggested Citation

  • Russell Rhine, 2001. "Economies of scale and optimal capital in nuclear and fossil fuel electricity production," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 29(2), pages 203-214, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:29:y:2001:i:2:p:203-214
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02299138
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF02299138
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF02299138?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stratford Douglas & Thomas A. Garrett & Russell M. Rhine, 2009. "Disallowances and overcapitalization in the U.S. electric utility industry," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 91(Jan), pages 23-32.
    2. Christensen, Laurits R & Greene, William H, 1976. "Economies of Scale in U.S. Electric Power Generation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 655-676, August.
    3. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    4. Guilkey, David K & Lovell, C A Knox & Sickles, Robin C, 1983. "A Comparison of the Performance of Three Flexible Functional Forms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(3), pages 591-616, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ajayi, Victor & Weyman-Jones, Thomas & Glass, Anthony, 2017. "Cost efficiency and electricity market structure: A case study of OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 283-291.
    2. Rode, David C. & Fischbeck, Paul S. & Páez, Antonio R., 2017. "The retirement cliff: Power plant lives and their policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 222-232.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Truett, Lila J. & Truett, Dale B., 1997. "The Korean metals industry and economic development," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 333-347.
    2. Vega-Cervera, J.A. & Medina, J., 2000. "Energy as a productive input: The underlying technology for Portugal and Spain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 757-775.
    3. Truett, Dale B. & Truett, Lila J., 1996. "Trade liberalization and the Mexican steel industry," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 429-447.
    4. Mokhtar Kouki & Sang Park & Eric Renault, 2014. "Estimating scale economies in financial intermediation: a doubly indirect inference," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 351-365, June.
    5. Roy, Jayjit & Yasar, Mahmut, 2015. "Energy efficiency and exporting: Evidence from firm-level data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 127-135.
    6. Kurt Kratena & Mark Sommer & Gerhard Streicher & Simone Salotti & Juan Manuel Valderas Jaramillo, 2017. "FIDELIO 2: Overview and Theoretical Foundations of the Second Version of the Fully Interregional Dynamic Econometric Long-term Input-Output Model for the EU 27," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 61880, August.
    7. Truett, Lila J. & Truett, Dale B., 2007. "A cost-based analysis of scale economies in the French auto industry," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 369-382.
    8. Truett, Dale B. & Truett, Lila J., 1998. "Production, cost, and input substitution in the Mexican petroleum industry," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 67-87.
    9. Wu, Ximing & Sickles, Robin, 2018. "Semiparametric estimation under shape constraints," Econometrics and Statistics, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 74-89.
    10. Herwartz, Helmut & Reimers, Hans-Eggert, 2006. "Modelling the Fisher hypothesis: World wide evidence," Economics Working Papers 2006-04, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    11. Kristinn Hermannsson & Patrizio Lecca, 2016. "Human Capital in Economic Development: From Labour Productivity to Macroeconomic Impact," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(1), pages 24-36, March.
    12. Frederico Belo & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2010. "Cross-sectional Tobin's Q," NBER Working Papers 16336, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2000. "Measurement Error and the Relationship between Investment and q," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 1027-1057, October.
    14. Sevcan Yesiltas, 2009. "Financing Constraints and Investment: The Case of Turkish Manufacturing Firms," 2009 Meeting Papers 874, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Severance-Lossin, E. & Sperlich, S., 1995. "Estimation of Derivatives for Additive Separable Models," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 1995,60, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    16. Fang, Yiwei & Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2012. "More than connectedness : Heterogeneity of CEO social network and firm value," Research Discussion Papers 26/2012, Bank of Finland.
    17. Athanasios Geromichalos & Lucas Herrenbrueck, 2022. "The Liquidity-Augmented Model of Macroeconomic Aggregates: A New Monetarist DSGE Approach," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 45, pages 134-167, July.
    18. Rodrigo Cerda & Felipe Larraín, 2005. "Inversión Privada e Impuestos Corporativos: Evidencia para Chile," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 42(126), pages 257-281.
    19. Julio López Gallardo & Juan Carlos Moreno‐Brid & Martín Puchet Anyul, 2006. "Financial Fragility And Financial Crisis In Mexico," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 365-388, July.
    20. Thomas Chiang & Jiandong Li & Sheng-Yung Yang, 2015. "Dynamic stock–bond return correlations and financial market uncertainty," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 59-88, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:29:y:2001:i:2:p:203-214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.